Linda was born in Nephi, Utah and was the sixth of seven children of Pat Whittington and Ruby Bowers Whittington. Her dad nicknamed her "Grumpy" because of her good nature when she was little. In 1954 she moved with her family to Las Vegas, Nevada where she attended Crestwood elementary school. Summers were spent in West Yellowstone, Montana where her parents owned the Pine Crest Lodge and later, a summer home on Hebgen Lake. In 1959 the family left Las Vegas and sold the motel in West Yellowstone and moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho. There she attended Linden Park, Edgemont, and Longfellow elementary schools, O. E. Bell Jr. High, and Skyline High School where she graduated in 1970. In high school, she was a member of the dance club, pep club, and French club and was president of the art club. She won numerous prizes for her high school artwork in city-wide contests.

She was majoring in Art Education at Utah State University and spent her summers in between working as a motel maid in West Yellowstone, Montana. She was killed in an automobile accident while driving to visit a friend in Vail, Colorado.

Linda was an extremely talented artist, a bit of a rebel and a free spirit. She had two cats that she loved, named Gabrielle and Little Bit. She found them when they were tiny kittens abandoned in a paper bag in a snowbank. She nursed them with an eyedropper until they were old enough to eat on their own.